ENG 320 (02) —Introduction to English Studies
Fall 2021 / 8/23 to 12/17/2021 / MW 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm / Synchronous online
Instructor: Dr. Ruth Y. Hsu, PhD (rhsu@hawaii.edu)
Academic Calendar: UHM
This course is an online, synchronous course (we will meet as a whole class on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm, and via zoom). Additionally, every two or three weeks, we will meet in 30-minute, one-on-one consultations via zoom to go over your writing and to discuss your questions and your thoughts about the required reading.
This is a crucial course in terms of the content, and your writing, reading, and analytical skills. See Student Learning Outcomes below.
Contact me if you have questions regarding this class.
Description, goals:
This course is designed to strengthen, deepen, and expand your capacity to analyze, to write about, and to discuss literary and cultural texts. One portion of the reading list consists of novellas, podcasts, drama, essay, film, and graphic narratives. Another category of texts consists of scholars writing about different methodological stances, such as poststructuralism, Marxian criticism, feminisms, or postcolonial theory. English studies is a discipline with its own history and many ways of perceiving society, the environment, humans and non-humans, animate and non-animate presences. A third category of reading concerns how we can compose persuasive and compelling writing—formal, or more casual, or creative pieces about literature, culture, and literary criticism–in our overlapping roles of reader, thinker, writer, critic and scholar. Together, we will be undertaking careful and detailed analyses of all assigned texts. I will provide written feedback on your writing.
Requirements: Bi-weekly Forum posts (each post must be 300-350 words); one class presentation (5 to 10 minutes); a final essay exam (take-home; must include pre-writing). All components of all writing and course assignments must be completed in order for you to pass the class with a D or better.
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):
- Students will strengthen their ability to analyze, to write about, to discuss literary and cultural texts and literary criticism;
- Students will improve their ability to use a broad range of terminology in literary and cultural studies, including terms and concepts associated with specific analytical frameworks;
- Students will improve their ability to put together persuasive and analytical papers in an academic setting, including the techniques of paraphrasing, introducing quotations, and the appropriate use of citation styles;
- Students will be able to situate literary, cultural, and scholarly texts within larger historical and political debates about the purposes of class, gender, racial, and ethnic identity categories, and the discourse of national literatures and of aesthetics.